University of Virginia sued, accused of failure to address discrimination against Jewish students
On May 17, Matan Goldstein filed a lawsuit against the University of Virginia, alleging that the school has failed to appropriately respond to anti-Semitism.
Goldstein alleges that he was verbally and physically assaulted by pro-Hamas activists, forcing a UVA faculty member to intervene.
On May 17, freshman Matan Goldstein filed a lawsuit against the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, alleging that the school has failed to appropriately respond to anti-Semitic discrimination in any significant way.
“I just wish that the university would show solidarity with its Jewish students,” Goldstein said in an interview with The Daily Progress. “Because right now, the rhetoric that is being espoused against Israel is unacceptable.”
The 80-page lawsuit claims that “pro-Hamas UVA students have turned what once was a beautiful bastion of enlightened freethinking and tolerance into a trash-laden wasteland of antisemitic and anti-Israeli hate.” The document also criticizes the university for ignoring “rampant” discrimination.
[RELATED: UVA to commemorate ‘historically marginalized’ grads with special graduations]
The lawsuit details several instances of anti-Semitism that Goldstein allegedly faced.
During one such incident, Goldstein attended a protest organized by UVA’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter while carrying an Israeli flag and wearing a Yarmulke and the Star of David. He was allegedly verbally and physically assaulted by pro-Hamas activists, forcing a UVA faculty member to intervene.
Prior to the lawsuit, UVA received a letter signed by parents of the school’s Jewish students that listed more than three dozen incidents of alleged anti-Semitism and criticized the school’s failure to respond to them. According to the lawsuit, the university published a statement following an internal anti-Semitism investigation claiming that investigators “have yet to return evidence to substantiate the [antisemitism] claims.”
“I’m a religious Jew, I believe in God,” Goldstein told The Daily Progress. “Why am I supposed to hide? Are we living in the 1930s? Am I supposed to be in a Jewish ghetto on the outskirts, isolated from everyone else? Why are we moving backwards?”
Campus Reform has previously reported anti-Israel protests at UVA, including one demonstration in which faculty offered students extra credit to attend.
On April 11, Goldstein filed an incident report at UVA describing his experiences of campus anti-Semitism. According to the report, many students and faculty praised Hamas following its attacks against Israel on Oct. 7; one even called it “an unprecedented feat for the 21st century.” Goldstein’s lawsuit also alleges that this complaint and more than a dozen others like it were ignored by UVA administrators.
Campus Reform has reached out to Matan Goldstein and the University of Virginia for comment. This story will be updated accordingly.